Blood Autumn
by Mirror the Fox
Summary: Title Change. When strange new creatures start showing up, can Sonic and Shadow defeat them in time to prevent disaster? SonicxAmy and ShadowxOC COMPLETE
1. The Early Signs of War

MirrorTF: Hello my pretties. This Story is in Sonic's POV, and is the companion story to Angelic Puppy's Blood Fire. I do not own Sonic or any of his friends, I only own Xiaoli my OC (who may or may not appear), and some of the plot. Think of our stories like Sonic Adventure 2. Two different sides of the plot, but some events are the same in both stories. Enjoy!

--

_**CRAAASH!!**_ Knuckles slammed headfirst into the east side of the 42nd floor of a skyscraper. Glass and steel rained down onto the terrified crowd, though no one was hit by any of it. The massive egg-shaped robot that was responsible for knocking Knuckles senseless threw a mean right hook in my direction. I jumped over its giant fist and ran up its long wiry arm, hopping over the shoulder into the air. I came over the glass dome on the robots head where Eggman was piloting, and spotted my reflection as I flipped over it.

I looked terrible, my fur was ragged, charred in some places, and I had dark bruises on my arms and legs. I landed on the other side of Eggman, and dashed out of the way of another monstrous punch. I ran up the side of the skyscraper Knuckles had crashed in to, and ran into the office through the busted window. Knuckles had recovered somewhat, and was pulling glass out of his dreadlocks when I got there.

"That all you got Rad Red?" He grinned at the nickname I used for him.

"Only if that's all _you've_ got True Blue!" He replied, pounding his fists together.

I smirked and rubbed my nose with my index finger. This would be a piece of cake now that we were _really_ revved up. We went to the wall furthest from the window, and charged, jumping off the edge of the window. Then we landed a fierce punch, mine hit first because I was faster and had taken off first. My punch knocked Eggman back, who sent a flurry of curses, and Knuckles' follow up punch knocked the robot on its monstrous ass. I couldn't help but laugh as Eggman struggled to get his new machine off the ground. This, as usual, infuriated Eggman to no end. He hit some odd button, which opened the cabin on the robot's chest, allowing Eggman to fly out of it.

He pretty much cursed us out as he flew away, talking about how he'd get us 'next time'. Knuckles and I laughed at the now familiar routine. We headed away from the devastation that was our fight with Eggman, not waiting for the cleanup crew to arrive. It had been awhile since Knuckles and I had fought, just the two of us, against Eggman, or against any 'baddies' in awhile so we enjoyed our victory. The two of us walked to a café that wasn't too far from where we were. We ordered drinks and some mozzarella sticks, aware of the many stares we were getting from the other customers.

"Man that was too easy! I think that may have been the shortest fight with Eggman that we've ever had!" Knuckles said fervently. Our drinks arrived and we both took a long drink.

"I agree that should go in the Guinness Book of Records for 'Shortest and Least Epic Battle'."

Our mozzarella sticks arrived and we dug in, ordering a large pizza to split between us. We talked for another hour or so over our food, making jokes and discussing battle styles, music and food. I felt kinda awkward at first; I was used to hanging out with Tails, who despite being a genius, was still only eight years old. But eventually I got into the rhythm of talking with Knuckles who was my age. I loved the little fox, but I couldn't figure out how I had retained my teenage sanity so long.

We had started talking about which rock bands were better, when I noticed it was starting to get dark. I checked my watch, which said it was about 8:30, Amy and Rouge would kill the both of us if we didn't leave now.

"Hey Knuckles, it's getting late, the girls are gonna kill us if we don't get goin'."

He sighed, knowing I was right, and got up to get ready to leave. He put a twenty on the table, and we dashed out the door. He waved goodbye and went the direction of the pier, back to Angel Island. That left me by myself, and I went through an alley to an empty back street. As far as I could see, the street was a clear, straight shot to my house. I rotated my left shoulder, which was still sore from the battle earlier, and flinched at the sharp pain that went through it. I'd have to be careful while I was running, and I definitely couldn't make any sudden stops.

I took a deep breath and started of with a runner's jog, careful not to jostle my shoulder too much. I picked up the pace little by little, until I was at a full run, and then I really took off. This was the best part about being me, having the _speed_. I loved feeling the air rush past my quills, listening to the hum of the wind as I cut through it. I didn't even feel the sting of my injuries, I was so focused.

Many people wondered why I couldn't stand to be still for too long, or why I hated moving slow. It was because of this sensation that I get from running, everything that goes into it and comes out of it. But, you can't explain that kind of thing to people, instead they'd have to experience it for themselves to understand.

It didn't take long for me to reach my house and when I got there my shoulder was burning with pain. All the windows were dark except for the one that peeked into the basement, meaning that only Tails was home. So I wouldn't be bothered when I went in, unless Tails decided to come up when I did which was highly unlikely.

I went inside and pulled my shoes off, I didn't bother turning on the lights, and went into the kitchen. I flicked on that light, and opened the fridge. The cool tile felt like a blessing to my poor tired feet, I hadn't realized how tired I was until I'd stepped in the house. I poured my self half a glass of orange juice and drank it in three gulps. I sat the cup in the sink and slowly made my way up to my room. My legs felt like there were lead weights on my ankles, which made it tough getting up the stairs.

When I got upstairs, I went to the bathroom and turned the shower on, yawning as I did so. I glanced in the mirror, which had started to fog up at the corners. My blue fur was standing on end, and patches of it were burned at the tips. The bruises had already started to go away-thank goodness, I wouldn't have been able to take all of Amy's prodding if they hadn't-most of them yellowed now. My shoulder was still sore and there was some slight swelling but whatever. I sighed at the reflection, which sighed right back, and stepped into the shower.

I washed first, careful of my injuries, making sure they were clean within self-preservation. Washing my quills proved to be a more difficult task, my shoulder stung every time I tried to use it, but there was sweat and robot oil in my quills, and I was _not_ going to bed with that crap on my head. By the time I'd finished, my shoulder was burning again and the water was cold, but I was clean top to bottom.

I plopped down on my soft fluffy bed, glancing one last time at the clock before closing my eyes. The clock had said 9:45, so by my standards I was going to bed early. I shifted so I was more comfortable and drifted off to sleep.

_I opened my eyes to see a void, it wasn't dark, but was lit with a sunset. That was weird, voids were supposed to be dark and evil looking. The void was colored in scarlet, orange, peach, and yellow, like the sky during sunset, although it darkened to black at a central point. The black point swirled slowly in a counter-clockwise motion, and there was a slight pull on the air around me._

_I looked around, and saw nothing but the eternal landscape of colors. I shook my head, sometimes I really couldn't figure out where these deep, semi-poetic thoughts came from. Perhaps I was around Shadow and Rouge too much, or maybe I was just getting mature. Ugh, what a thought that was! The others would laugh at me for just considering that last one. _

_Something roared in the distance, at least, it sounded like it was in the distance, I couldn't really tell because everything looked the _same_. I heard it again, this time it was closer, and I could tell it was coming from the vortex that was swirling below me. A deep rumble followed, and two massive, ropey tentacles shot out to try and grab me. I got out of the way but they swung for me again, determined to catch me or knock me clear out the sky._

_The tentacles were a navy blue, and had thin, ropey claws at the end. It moved like chaos, but was much quicker, whipping back whenever I got behind it. It was also smart too, because it slammed me with one tentacle and wrapped the other around me. I could feel its bright green slime ooze through my fur and touch my skin, where it burned horrendously. I screamed through the searing pain, but I had to stop when the tentacle crushed the air out of me._

_I took in sharp gasps of breath, each one making the pain in my chest worse than the one before it. The burning from the ooze stopped, though I could still feel it on my skin and in my fur. The tentacle started to pull me down towards the vortex and I struggled to get free. I had managed to wriggle my arms free, when a powerful electric shock ran through the tentacle and into my body. I'd never in my life felt that kind of pain before, not even the ooze had caused such mind numbing pain. I don't even know if I screamed, but in that instant I gained a serious appreciation for any past injury I had obtained, because nothing compared to this._

I heard a loud, almost furious banging on my door and sat up quickly. I had fallen off the bed at some point and I was breathing heavily. My heart felt like it would jump out my chest and run a marathon. My whole body was numb, like all my limbs had fallen asleep at the same time. The banging had stopped, and Amy walked into the room, looking very annoyed.

"Geez Sonic, I knew you were a heavy sleeper, but c'mon!" she said in an exasperated tone. I must not have looked as bad as I felt.

"What the hell do you want Amy? I can't see what's so important that you'd wake me up at-"I glanced towards the clock "-two in the morning, and with all that banging!" I spat.

She flinched at my harsh tone, but I couldn't really feel bad about it at this point. She had no right barging in here in the first place, but to throw an attitude at me too? That wasn't exactly the way I'd approach someone who I needed help from. She whimpered and stepped away from me, suddenly nervous. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head, now I felt bad, I'd scared her, and that just made this whole scene annoying.

"Just tell me what you need Amy, so I can check it out" I said calmly. She still seemed wary of my attitude but stepped up again.

"It's just, well, I had this dream that Shadow had gotten attacked, and, well, I was wondering if maybe you'd go check on him for me?" her tone was slightly pleading and she really did look worried. I nodded and stood up stretching, and she smiled in relief.


	2. There's Strange, and Then Karo

MirrorTF: Sup my peoples, Chapter the Second! Sort of.

Sonic: I like the title of the chapter, really revealing.

MirrorTF: Be a good boy and do the disclaimer Sonic.

Sonic: Mirror the Fox does not own Me or any of my friends, that's SEGA's job. She does however own part of the plot, though most of it belongs to her sister Angelic Puppy. She also doesn't own Karo or his buddies, her sister does that.

--

I ran towards Shadow's apartment, which wasn't that far from my house

I ran towards Shadow's apartment, which wasn't that far from my house. I got to the third floor where his apartment was located, and stopped in front of the door. I shook my head, not really seeing the point of this whole escapade. It was two in the morning for crying out loud! If he was awake, he'd be watching tv not fending off some evil monster. I knocked on the door, someone bumped into a table when I did. Shadow's voice came through the door a second later.

"What do you want Sonic?" his voice was shaky and he sounded breathless. That wasn't good, maybe there was a problem. Or I could've just startled him out of sleep.

"Amy wouldn't leave me alone until I checked on you. I know it's like two in the morning, but she had a dream that you were in trouble so…." I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but it didn't work too well.

When he opened the door, well, let's say I was surprised by the sight before me. Shadow's head was covered in a thick whitish substance, and his feet and ankles were covered in a dark bluish liquid. Behind him was a hideous lizard like creature. I shivered; the thing looked like it could've been the creature from my dream. It had the same rope-like tentacle arms, but it was a much lighter color than the one from my dream.

"She was right" he said, stepping aside so I could come in.

Shadow went straight to the bathroom and shut the door. I heard him turn the shower on blast, so I went to check out the creature that was lying dead on the floor. Its blood had pooled on the floor, and a dark stain was already setting into the carpet. It looked like a wingless dragon from Yu-Gi-Oh that got crossed with a blue Flan from Final Fantasy. Something had torn it apart, leaving only the head attached by a stringy layer of muscle and blue skin. The arms had been pulled clean off, the legs were hanging by strips of skin that were nearly broken through, and the torso looked like a curly fry.

"Hey Shadow. What did you_ do_ to this thing?" I called to the bathroom door. He walked out in pajama pants.

"I don't know. What did I do?" he said. I asked him again and he just shrugged.

"I panicked when it grabbed me. One moment it was about to bite my head off, the next it was at my feet just like that."

"What the hell _is this_?" I said slightly disgusted at the carnage.

I poked its leg, feeling its squishy, watery flesh give way. I shivered slightly as its skin began to ooze a bright green slime. I noticed Shadow moving towards the kitchen, he swayed with each step, so I left the squishy creature on the floor and followed him to the kitchen.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked. He didn't seem to hear me so I tried again. "Shadow? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine" he said tiredly. I caught him right as he passed out. I carried him back to my house, and put him up in my room. Next, I dealt with the creature on the floor. That proved to be harder than I thought; I absolutely did _not_ want to touch that thing barehanded. I found a floor towel, which I used to wrap up the remains of the creature, and showed it to Tails. He freaked out, and then stuck it in one of his funky storage tubes. It was now somewhere around 3:00 am, I'd get another four hours of sleep if I was lucky. I went to the guest room-since I'd given Shadow my room-and laid down on the clean white sheets. I fell into a dreamless sleep almost immediately, not bothering to take my shoes off or getting under the sheets.

I woke up around noon, to the smell of Amy's bacon and eggs, and the sound of the television. I got and stretched, my shoulder was still pretty sore, and I was very stiff. Amy would kill me for not telling her about the fight with Eggman, but lately I was starting not to care what she thought. I went downstairs to the kitchen and yawned before anyone could say anything.

"Morning people, what's the weather today?" I said through another yawn. Everyone but Knuckles gave me a funny look, and I laughed.

"Partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain, it'll be a warm day for running and gliding though." Knuckles said enthusiastically.

Amy and Cream looked at the two of us as if we'd lost our minds. We both laughed because we knew exactly what the other meant. 'Partly Cloudy with a chance of rain' meant that Eggman was plotting something and had been spotted building something by Knuckles. The rest just meant it was a good day for a run! My stomach growled in neglect as I sat down at the table. Cream handed me a plate heaped with scrambled eggs, four pieces of bacon, two slices of toast, and a pile of cube cut fried potatoes. I was suddenly ravenous, and started wolfing down the pile of food. The others stared in surprise at my…gusto. When I finished, even I was surprised at how quickly I'd cleaned the plate. What was even more surprising was that I was _still_ hungry. I held out my plate and smiled sheepishly.

"Umm, can I have some more? Sunny side up eggs this time, please?" I asked warily.

"Y-you're still hungry? But you just ate all that food!" Cream said incredulously. I scratched the back of my head and handed the plate to Amy.

"I know, but I just feel hungrier than normal, besides, it's a compliment!"

"Sonic, you ate four eggs, four strips of bacon, two slices of toast, and a _whole_ potato. That's more than Knuckles had! And you're _still_ hungry?" Amy asked. She looked real worried about how much I was eating.

I shrugged, getting up and grabbing a glass out the drain board. I poured some orange juice and walked back to my seat. Knuckles seemed deep in thought about something, Amy sighed in submission, and began showing Cream how to make an egg sunny side up. I picked up a stray PEOPLE'S magazine and started flipping through it when Rouge came in laughing. We all looked up (except for Knuckles, he's got serious concentration skills) and saw Tails and Shadow following up behind her. I smiled at Tails whose stomach gurgled with hunger. I lifted my glass in greeting to Shadow who, frankly, looked like a truck had hit him.

"Hey, you're awake! Finally, I thought I might have to consider possibly thinking about being concerned about you" I said with a grin. His ear twitched with annoyance but he smirked anyway.

"I'm glad you thought about maybe possibly considering thinking about being concerned about me." He returned with clear sarcasm.

Amy shoved an already prepared plate of eggs at Shadow, who proceeded to eat his food with almost the same level of energy that I had. Once he finished he did the exact same thing I had done. He handed the plate back to Amy with an expectant look of more food. He tapped his foot impatiently as she put bacon and toast on the plate to join the last of the scrambled eggs. Shadow sat and ate the eggs and bacon, but took his time chewing his toast. I was starting to feel neglected, why couldn't I get more food?

"What are you in such deep thought about?" Rouge asked. She surprised me; I'd forgotten she was there.

"How would you know if I was thinking or daydreaming?" Shadow asked, his ears sweeping back in suspicion. Rouge laughed.

"Your ears tell everything. If I couldn't see anything but your ears I'd still know exactly what you were feeling and even what you're thinking to some degree. For instance, your ears swept back that way signals suspicion to me. If I were trying to find out if Knuckles was suspicious about something I'd observe the way he's standing or sitting. Sonic shows his emotions on his face. You're harder to read because you're extremely self-controlled. For someone to read you they'd have to observe your ears and eyes and even then you're difficult." She said, observing him calmly. It was amusing because Shadow moved his left ear up, and the other down as he studied her, unbelieving until he noticed his own movements.

I got up and left the kitchen, and was out the door a second later. Last thing I heard was a pitiful burp by Tails that had everyone else laughing. I stretched on the porch and did a quick warm-up before hopping the railing and taking off. I made it into the city in under a minute, the after shock of wind kicked up any loose objects behind me. I laughed feeling the usual rush from running. I left city limits thirty seconds later, and kicked up the desert sand in a double wave behind me.

I felt the air rush past me faster and faster, the sand stinging my eyes as I ran. The sands were blurry, even before I'd gotten far from the city, and I sped towards the ocean. I had no trouble breathing, this kind of speed a normal 'light' run. I could consider it a jog if I really wanted too. I took a step that put me up the next speed limit, the rush of wind a tremendous roar in my ears.

A third step, and an explosion, the world had become soundless except for a faint rushing like a wave rolling in on the beach. As I left the sound barrier behind me I focused on nothing but the feel of the run. I didn't normally run outside the limit of sound, but it was more soothing than running at the edge like usual. I ran until it got dark, skidding through ocean foam a couple times to cool my feet, it was almost 2:00 am by the time I got back.

When I reached the house, I found everyone but Cream and Cheese to be awake

When I reached the house, I found everyone but Cream and Cheese to be awake. The first thing I saw was another of those 'funky chicken' creatures and Knuckles standing next to it like a bouncer. Tails was examining it, but the poor thing was shaking with fear next to the overbearing Knuckles.

"You got a name little lizard dude?" he nodded and inched away from Knuckles.

"Karo. Please make red go way. I stay still, I stay still." The poor thing shrank under Knuckles' fierce gaze.

"Leave it be Knuckles." Shadow said sleepily. He seemed to be fighting sleep, which meant he'd been drooled on again.

"Why should I? Its friend tried to kill you and it tried to kill you too. I don't trust it." Knuckles said with a growl.

"Hey Tails, what about those plant things you have in your lab? What are they made of?" Shadow asked, speaking very carefully as to be understood. He was losing his fight with consciousness, and I made my way over to where he was standing by the stairs. If he fell he'd really hurt himself, so I wanted to be there to catch him.

"Umm, you mean those plants I was experimenting with using Chaos energy?" Tails asked.

"Yes, the blue glowing ones." he said. They were talking about the weird plants that were on Tails' workbench in the basement.

"Yeah they are infused with Chaos energy. Why do you ask?" Tails asked, hovering over to me.

"Feed them to the creature." Shadow sat down as he answered and promptly passed out afterwards.

"Black one. Wake up kind one!" Karo said nudging Shadow's leg lightly.

I hoisted Shadow off the stairs and moved him to the guest room bed. The bed had been made with a comforter this time, probably for Knuckles and Rouge. Karo followed behind me worriedly, but Tails shooed him off and into the basement. They came back a minute later, Tails holding several of the glowing plants, with Karo sniffing them inquisitively.

"So, how are you gonna feed him?" I asked breaking the silence.

Tails seemed taken aback by this; he didn't expect to have to feed him obviously. I shook my head and took the plants from Tails. I carefully pulled one out its pot by the roots. Karo sniffed the roots and licked them lightly. I waved them in his face and he snatched it right out my hand, gobbling the plant whole. Man the little sucker was fast! He went after another plant though, and I barely got it out the pot before he tried to eat it. I tossed the other two plants at him, and he snatched them out the air, eating them in two bites.

Tails and Knuckles looked slightly horrified, but I couldn't help laughing. Well, until he started shedding all over the hardwood floor that is. It took two hours for Knuckles to clean it up while Karo watched from his spot on the guest bed. Karo looked less like a 'funky chicken' creature and more like a wingless dragon. He was pretty cute once he shed, with small dragon horns and bright red eyes.

Amy came out the kitchen with a bucket to mop the floor where the slop of shed skin had left some thick residue. She thought he was cute and decided to feed him a bad peach. He loved it and she pretty much made him a garbage disposal feeding him all the bad food in the fridge. Shadow woke an hour later to Karo's inquisitive stare, along with Tails' worried looks. Poor kid was gonna turn gray before he was my age the way he worried about everything.

"That was a good thing, feeding him those plants. As I'm sure you've noticed he isn't drooling anymore, he stopped as soon as I fed him. It must be some sort of weapon for catching prey, though why he was chasing you is still beyond me." Tails said as he scratched Karo's dragon-like horns.

"Black one, kind one makes bright power light." Karo said.

"He keeps saying that whenever I ask him why he was trying to eat you. I don't think he knows how to answer any other way. I wonder how he even knows as much English as he does. Anyway, I guess eating makes him shed, because that's why he's not ugly anymore." Tails said. His nose screwed up in disgust at mention of the shedding.

"So, what's this kind one stuff?" Shadow asked. It was meant more for Tails than Karo, but the little dragon answered.

"Black one, kind one not let red hurt Karo. Karo want sorry to kind one. Karo want kind one friend." Karo said simply.

"My name is Shadow. You want to _say_ sorry. You want me to _be_ your friend." Shadow told him slowly.

"Karo want to _say_ sorry to kind one. Karo want…_Shadow _to be his friend." Karo said, faltering when he tried to say his name. It was more as if he was saying _Sadda_ than Shadow.

Shadow looked as bad as he did the other day when I'd found him with Karo's buddy. He got up and stretched, yawning. Karo hopped over to Shadow from the bed. He had normal length arms, now looking like a velociraptor/dragon mix. He half loped, half hopped on his back legs and occasionally walked on all fours as he trailed Tails and Shadow downstairs.

Karo hid behind Shadow at the sight of Knuckles, who glared suspiciously. Shadow waved Knuckles off as I continued into the kitchen past them. Amy was in the kitchen cooking. Karo attacked a glowing plant on the counter and even gobbled up the dirt. Rouge was nowhere to be seen, while I was sitting at the table. I helped myself to a glass of orange juice and had some toast on a plate.

"Good morning Shadow! Want some eggs? Who knew that Karo was so helpful! He ate all the rotten vegetables in the fridge!" Amy said cheerfully.

She gave Shadow a plate of food, which he ate most of, and a mug of piping hot coffee, which he drank most of. I felt a pang of jealousy, although I knew that Shadow wasn't really into Amy, and ate more of my toast. Karo got up and sniffed Shadow's coffee and then drank what was left, and followed it up with the other half of his omelet. Shadow stopped him when he sniffed the three crispy strips of bacon.

"You can't have my bacon," Shadow said matter-of-factly. Karo sat down and sulked, I had already given him my bacon but he seemed to really like the stuff.

"What do you normally eat Karo?" Shadow asked the lizard. The little guy looked up and rolled his eyes, presumably in thought.

"If it glow with power light I eat. Bitter drink glow faint, yellow thing glow faint. But it glow so I eat. Crunchy thing just taste good." Karo said, speaking slowly. His words were poorly formed and barely understandable as he spoke.

"So…what is glowing in here?" I asked curiously.

"You, _Shadow_, pink one, two tail. You, red and Shadow make bright power light. Dying plant make more power light than live plant. Except for blue plant two tail give Karo, that good." Karo said carefully. He tried very hard to pronounce Shadow's name correctly, but it still sounded more like Saddo than Shadow.

"So, basically anything that was recently living or is living. However, you, Shadow, and Knuckles make a brighter 'power light' than everyone else." Tails said thoughtfully.

"Maybe that has something to do with our higher amounts of chaos energy. I wonder how he would react to a Chaos Emerald." Shadow said to his bacon. He tossed it to Karo, who gobbled it up happily.

"Maybe we should see." Tails said before running downstairs to his lab. He came back up quickly with a Chaos Emerald.

Karo stared at the Emerald and began to drool slightly. He walked over cautiously and sniffed the Emerald. Tails used a test tube to catch some of the slime from Karo's mouth. Karo snatched the Chaos Emerald and ran away with it. Shadow went to grab his tail as Karo tried to scrabble away. Karo swallowed the emerald whole before Shadow could take it from him. None of us moved or commented at what just happened.

We could only stare as he crouched behind the table, fearful of our anger. But we only stared, and stood by as he glowed brightly. He shed his old skin like a coat, and appeared more like a small dragon with sky blue wings. Shadow was the first one to break the silence, which sounded loud cutting through the surprised silence.

"I don't think that's a good thing for us" he said still dumbfounded. He couldn't have made a bigger understatement.


	3. The Start of a War

MirrorTF: Two updates in one day

MirrorTF: Two updates in one day! I feel happy! And the little creature Karo is introduced from Sonic's point of view!

Shadow: I'm not gonna get drooled on again am I?

MirrorTF: Actually my dark-furred lovely, you've already been drooled on. This time it's from Sonic's perspective!

Shadow: --"

Sonic: Hey, how come I don't get a special name?

MirrorTF: Oh but you do! You are my Azure lovely! You get a fancy named specific color! For the disclaimer, I do not own any hedgehogs of chaos empowerment, nor their female counterparts. I also don't own Karo and his alienness. I do own part of the plot though.

--

Karo was now a lizard of the winged variety. My first thought after he swallowed the emerald? _How would we be getting it back when we needed it_? My second thought? _Eww_. Knuckles scrambled into the kitchen nearly tripping over Karo at the door.

"You've got to see the news! There's more of him, and they're not friendly!" Knuckles halfway shouted.

Everyone scrambled from his or her seats to get into the living room. On the TV was a scene of downtown Metropolis being burned to the ground. It was akin to the invasion of the Black Arms several years ago. The news station that was capturing the scene of downtown Metropolis was using a helicopter instead of a ground crew, but that didn't save it.

The camera shook violently and the people screamed. A hideous blue creature only too familiar came through the helicopter door from off of the top. The helicopter blades could be heard malfunctioning as another creature joined the first in attacking the helicopter's occupants. The camera dropped out of the helicopter, presumably with the cameraman because his screams could still be heard as he fell. The camera turned towards the sky and a creature following the cameraman out of the helicopter. It hit the ground with a sickening thud and fuzzed out, static running across the screen.

It was then I noticed Shadow running out the door, and I called for him to wait up. Knuckles quickly caught up to us and we reached the city within five minutes. I heard a loud whistle that got closer and louder. I glanced behind me and got cold tackled by Knuckles, who also knocked down Shadow. The bazooka missile that would've hit us whistled past my top quill and slammed into a building. One of the creatures-a version twice as big as Karo and three times as hideous as he was before feeding him-let out a screech-laugh at our hit and miss by the missile. Knuckles jumped up and cold clocked the laughing lizard, knocking it into the corner of a building.

I spotted a wingless lizard that was big enough for me to ride on, which gave me an idea. I ran up to it from behind and jumped on its back, grabbing one of its horns like in a rodeo. It bucked and screeched and kicked and clawed at me, but I held on to its horn and just laughed.

I spotted Shadow shaking his head, quite exasperated, and laughed even more. I know he thought I was stupid to choose this particular moment to make a joke out of a bad thing, but I couldn't help it. The lizard bucked and headbutted me in the forehead. Let's just say it felt worse than being hit by one of Eggman's robots, except it was all focused on my head.

"OUCH!" I yelled, and then subsequently flew into a loose piece of building, which fell on two creatures. I felt a few things crack in my shoulder and two, maybe three ribs were jarred.

I got back up and rubbed my shoulder, though there wasn't anything wrong that I couldn't work around. Just my ever-loving luck that it would be the same shoulder I hurt in my fight with Eggman! I waved to Shadow and Knuckles and went to the west side of the city to find more baddies. The lizards all fought in pairs, one to distract while the other attacked. The further in I got the bigger the ugly things got, and the more experienced the pairs were. I hadn't had such good fights since the Black Arms attacked a few years back.

I reached Station Square but skidded to a halt when I spotted Shadow talking to a dragon type of the creatures. It was a darker blue than the others, who were colored like Chaos. He was colored like a sapphire and was twice my height. I circled back around the other side running into another pair of the lighter dragons. I helped up my hands in cease-fire, pointing towards the Square where Shadow and the darker one were still talking. I guess the dark one was their leader because they sat and waited for a signal before running off.

The leader barked an order of some kind to the other side of the Square, where another pair scuttled off. The same pair came around to watch me, so he knew I was here, Shadow on the other hand did not. Suddenly the leader was drooling and ready to pounce, with the pair on both sides of me. _Crap_, I thought, _how do I get myself in these situations_? I saw Shadow run and I jumped over the largest of the pair and put on some distance while dodging the poor timing of G.U.N artillery. Poor Shadow got knocked by a car, but recovered quickly.

I ran into Knuckles, quite literally, who was dirty and bruised, with a shallow gash across his chest, but no worse for wear. I on the other hand had cut my cheek on falling glass and my shoulder would've screamed if it could.

"Hey, have you seen Shadow?" Knuckles asked breathlessly.

"Yeah he's-" I started to say, pointing where I'd seen him. I never finished because at that very moment the biggest, fugliest dragon I'd ever- and probably will ever- see landed right in front of Shadow. The dragon had to be at least 25 feet tall, with blood red eyes and scales so dark they were almost black.

The moment I saw it I knew at some point it had looked like the creature in my dream. Shadow was struck with a fear driven awe that had him frozen to the spot. I called his name once, and then a second time, which he noticed briefly. I ran and pulled him from under the monstrous tail of the beast as it released a deafening roar.

Shadow snapped to reality and we dodged the giant's spit, which burned a building like foul smelling acid. The dark blue lizard chased Knuckles around the giant dragon, and then got behind the giant one. Shadow went to use a Homing Attack but then the giant dragon swung his wing, the wind knocking the both of us back.

I recovered by curling up and spin dashing back towards Shadow and Knuckles. I uncurled and ran the rest of the way, until the dragon swung its tail over my head, ramming into Shadow and Knuckles. I skid to a stop watching both of my friends in horror as fly through a building at 200 miles an hour. What I didn't expect was to be caught in the back swing of the solid black tail.

I could feel the giant muscles contract under the dark scales, every ounce of air forced out of me in that one split second. I had no time to breathe before I was sandwiched between hard building and the heavy tail that was forcing me through six inches of concrete. Then I was caught across the chest by the sharp tip of the tail and I could feel it break my ribs, four painful snaps, blood and bile filling my mouth. And for a moment I was airborne, through more concrete, each heavy piece doing more damage than the one before, breaking its own bone into separate pieces and then breaking those.

Past the concrete and I was airborne again for what felt like a second, and I met with a car. I felt glass shatter and cold steel crumple under the speed my meager weight had hit it and coughed up blood. I felt the steel under me flame and bend to my back, felt shattered bones pull them selves together so they were only single breaks, some double breaks.

I think I screamed, but I wasn't sure, my brain could only register the pain and nothing else. I couldn't even be sure whether or not I was dead, or how I even survived such collision if I did so. I heard nothing and saw nothing but the red shower that was my own pain.

The first thing I woke up too was a flurry of multi-lingual cursing in a gruff voice. That assured me that Knuckles was okay, but I couldn't be quite as sure for whoever his verbal abuse was aimed at. The next thing was a terrible smell, a mixture of medicine, bleach, backlogged toilets, or something akin to that. And blood, always the one tell tale sign of a hospital was the _blood_. I smelled it all around me, it was overpowering. I tried to move but my body felt like it weighed a ton. I could feel my muscles twitch with stress, but I could not move anything but my head, albeit slowly. That didn't stop the wave of nausea that washed over me, and I barely avoided puking on my pillow. Gross. That just added to the myriad scents of the hospital. Knuckles was still cursing like a sailor, something about Rouge and Cream…

"Damn Knuckles, do you have to be so loud? Go do your cursing someplace else." I said my voice very hoarse.

Knuckles stopped his round of verbal abuse, so I figured he heard me, but then he started again, though it sounded like he was calling the nurse in. I didn't bother to look when the nurse came to check me, I wasn't trying to puke again, especially since she was right next to me. I could smell her funky chicken perfume, some wannabe flower kind that was fit more for old ladies than a _nurse_. Someone screamed, it was agonizing listening to these people and not being able to do anything. I flinched at another peal of pain, which I think the nurse saw because she started to poke and prod at me. I heard Knuckles talking to the nurse, about how he thought I'd said something.

I was waking up more, and noticed the squeeze of bandage tape across my chest and over my battered shoulder. I also felt a splint on my leg, the bandage holding the splint firmly in place. I still didn't hurt, but Knuckles' words were becoming clearer and therefore louder. I strained my ears and focused, desperate to cut out the screams while listening for other sounds. I heard a loud bang of doors down the hall, people running, and an alarm. I heard Amy asking a worried question, and some shouting. Then a peal of frantic chirps and a flatline, followed by a flurry of movement and the abandonment of my nurse as she went to help too. I heard some one, a toddler, call Shadow, I figured it was Karo the little dragon, and he was followed by some very angry soldiers.

"What's going on here? Who let this thing in here?" The guard yelled.

"Sorry sir, he's with us! He's a good one I swear! He won't hurt anybody!" I heard Tails saying to the guard in a pleading tone. They'd see Shadow before me, since they were coming from the other side of the hall.

I heard them talking, very faintly, and I just laid there trying to block out the sound of the hospital. It took a lot of focus to keep my attention on the sound of my friends' conversation and away from the loud cursing of Knuckles and the wails of the dying. They talked for a while, and I could feel movement coming back to me when Knuckles abruptly stopped his abuse (to the relief of several hospital staff). I faintly heard Rouge's gentle questions asking where Knuckles was-and the sound of Amy's familiar footsteps.

I drifted in and out of sleep, still groggy, though I was glad Knuckles had stopped his fury for good. I was dozing when I felt a warm hand on my forehead, which startled me but only slightly. I opened my eyes, which stung from the light, and found Amy's light green eyes watching me worriedly. I chuckled and gave her my cheesiest smile, which made her light up with relief.

"Oh Sonic! I'm so glad you're okay!" she said her relief becoming my relief. She was so _infectious_ sometimes, it was no wonder she was always getting kidnapped.

"Hey babes, just hanging out, like my new digs?" I said my voice still hoarse. She sniffled and punched my uninjured arm.

"Oh gods Sonic, you're worse than Knuckles and Shadow!" she started to tear up, so I gripped her hand softly.

"Hey now, you know I can't stand seeing you cry! I'll be fine honest! I can't barely do nothin' cause they gave me so much morphine!" I reassured her, desperate to keep her from crying.

I really couldn't stand seeing any girl cry, especially not over me. My plea seemed to help because she went right back to sniffling and rubbing her eyes. I took a deep breath and sighed, though it hurt a great deal. I heard Shadow walk in followed by the sound of Karo's nails clacking on the floor. I watched as my dark twin plopped Cream into the lap of a deliberating Knuckles and came over to stand by Amy.

"Hey Shadow, glad to see you up and runnin'." I said suddenly groggy.

"I'm hardly running. You know it took me _five whole minutes_ to get over here?" he said sarcastically. I tried to sit up for what must have been the third time, but my sense of balance was still gone and the room swirled as I grabbed onto the bed rails.

"Did you know that one dose of that morphine crap can knock you on your ass for several hours?" I said gripping the rails for support.

"I know now."

"We need a plan." Knuckles said.

We all turned to face him.

"What you got in mind?" Shadow asked.

"This is too big for us. We need the Chaos Emeralds. I wonder…." Knuckles said, going back to his contemplation.

"You wonder what?" I asked. My vertigo was screwing my ability to form words properly, so my question came out slurred.

Knuckles took his time answering, thinking over every angle of his plan, but I was already catching on. This guy was thinking of having him, Shadow and I go Super. All at once. Because this was the first day of the alien creatures' attack and it had already become an all out war.

"We need the Master Emerald and we need the Chaos Emeralds. We'll have to figure out how to get the one that Karo swallowed, but I have a plan. We just need someone willing to go to Angel Island." Knuckles said thoughtfully.

"Knuckles, you're not thinking of what I think you are…are you?" I asked carefully. I already knew of course.

"I don't know, what are you thinking?" Shadow asked turning towards me. I shook my head trying to clear it before speaking; my brain was fogging up from the morphine. I turned to Knuckles.

"Do they really have enough power for that? I haven't seen you _Super_ in years. Not to mention there's never been more than two of us Super at the same time." I said, slightly incredulity.

"Knuckles can go Super? I suppose I should have expected as much, but what, does he destroy _mountains_ in his spare time as Super?" Shadow asked, completely incredulous.

I couldn't wrap my mind around it. Knuckles hadn't gone Super in years. There had never been more than two of us Super at one time as far as I could remember. Even so, how could there possibly be enough chaos energy to power all three of us?

"I'm thinking even past that Sonic. Something you've only done once and that neither Shadow nor I have done. I'm talking creating the Super Emeralds again. I'm talking going Hyper."

--

MirrorTF: What shall Sonic and the others do now? Find out next chapter!

Shadow: But they already know how its gonna go! (Gets whacked with a two x four and dragged away)


	4. And So The Plot Thickens

MirrorTF: The next chapter! We find out what went on during Shadow's chat with Lirias!

Tails: Can I do the disclaimer?

MirrorTF: Sure!

Tails: Mirror the Fox does not own Sonic or me, and she doesn't own any other Sonic the Hedgehog characters! She owns part of this plot line but not the alien lizards or Karo.

--

"I'm thinking even past that Sonic

"I'm thinking even past that Sonic. Something you've only done once and that neither Shadow nor I have done. I'm talking creating the Super Emeralds again. I'm talking going Hyper." Knuckles said matter-of-factly.

I couldn't believe what Knuckles had just suggested, even if it was the best idea we would get.

"Are you serious Knuckles? I haven't gone Hyper in _years_. Years! You've never gone Hyper. Do the Chaos Emeralds, even if we charge them to the Super Emeralds, really have enough power for all _three_ of us to go Hyper? There's never even been more than two of us Super at the same time, much less Hyper!" I shouted in exasperation. I groaned and put my head back, the room had started spinning again.

"Calm down Sonic. I'm a Guardian; I know more about the Chaos Emeralds than anyone else. They'll have enough power. Now, four of the Chaos Emeralds are on Angel Island with the Master Emerald. You all had three, Karo ate one, so the other two are still in Tails' lab. We need someone to go get them. Knuckles said calmly.

"Actually the other two are in the X Tornado, so they're here." Tails said. "I'll go get them now." He left to go get the Chaos Emeralds.

"_Sadda,_ what Chaos Emerald? Is that shiny stone Karo eat?" Karo asked, nudging the back of Shadow's hand with his nose.

"Yes Karo, the Chaos Emerald is the stone you ate. But don't worry about it for now; we'll worry about it later. " he answered, petting his head.

"Saddo need stone, Karo give. Stone not eat like plant, Karo give." Karo said and with that he promptly upchucked the Chaos Emerald.

I stifled a laugh at the looks of utter horror and disgust at the rejected emerald. I'd figured days ago when he first ate it that he would upchuck it if asked. It was covered in a layer of thick drool and brown film that was most likely some type of stomach fluid. Shadow was the first one to react, making it very clear how he felt about it.

"I'm not picking that up" he said with firm resolution.

Amy and Rouge left to retrieve the emeralds from Angel Island, and Karo curled up on the end of my bed. My vertigo was wearing off, so was the morphine and I felt a burning pain in my leg. Shadow seemed very thrown off by the very idea of a higher level than Super.

"Knuckles what is Hyper? I've never heard of it.," he asked.

"That would be a better question to ask Sonic. He's the only one who's ever gone Hyper."

"I don't know how to explain it! All I can really say is that it's nothing like Super. It's beyond anything you've ever felt. Like I said before, I haven't gone Hyper in years and it was only once. I have no doubt that Knuckles could go Hyper, but I'm not even sure if I can again…." I said annoyed. How should I know how to explain something I'd only done once?

"Nonsense, it's exactly the same as going Super, just with the Super Emeralds instead of the regular Emeralds. Stop being afraid; not to mention, this may be our only shot. I've never seen anything so powerful as that huge dragon." Knuckles said condescendingly.

"Big dragon? Clawrostira maybe?" Karo squeaked. We all turned towards him.

"Maybe, why, do you know anything about him?" Shadow asked.

"Clawrostira no eat normal power light like others. Clawrostira eat super big power light. Eat planet power light." Karo said.

"He eats a _planet's_ power?" Shadow asked nervously.

"He only eat every daddy life. Every time planet go 'round star lot's of times, maybe even more than daddy life." Karo said simply.

"Karo that doesn't tell us anything!" I said, exasperated.

"He's right Karo. How old is your father?" Knuckles asked.

"Karo not know, just know daddy older than mommy." Karo said, fear present in his voice. Shadow sighed and patted the dragon on his head.

"It's ok, Karo. Don't worry about it. What are we going to do about that anyway?" Shadow said.

"About what?" Knuckles and I answered together.

"About a certain high-ranking military officer in our enemy's army. The one that Karo knows exceptionally well." Shadow said while quickly glancing at the confused Karo.

"Oh, _that_. What are we going to do?" Knuckles said gravely. I didn't quite get it, but then I remembered that Karo had told us his father was a general. We couldn't very well kill the kid's dad, even if his boss was trying to eat our planet.

We didn't have time to wonder what we could do, because Tails came rushing in at that moment. He had the two Emeralds, but Dr. Eggman was following him. All of us jumped to our feet at the site of him. I almost tripped but I was able to right myself quickly. My leg hurt, but now the splint was a handicap, especially because I could feel the power of the two emeralds resonate through the room.

"Relax you annoying creatures. I haven't come to fight you! I've come to see what can be done about our predicament. You didn't think that you were the only ones under attack." Dr. Eggman said haughtily.

"Gee Doctor, it's always good to know we can count on you." Shadow said with calm sarcasm.

Right then two G.U.N soldiers brandishing what looked like semi-automatics entered the room followed by the one person I could like less than Eggman. The G.U.N Commander and all his idiotic prejudices. We all knew he hated Shadow for what happened on the Ark, even after I helped clear his name he still blamed Shadow. He also had some hate for me, partially because I helped Shadow and kept his company, and partially because he knew that I was better at beating trouble than he was. As luck would have it, the first thing he spotted was Karo.

"What is _that_ doing in here? Am I to believe that you are keeping one of these killing monsters as a _pet_?" The Commander spat in disgust as he pointed at Karo. The poor baby dragon quivered in fear and scrambled onto the floor to stand behind me.

"Maybe I am. He's a baby and perfectly harmless. His father doesn't know where he is so I see no need to panic." Shadow returned coldly.

The Commander folded his arms and glared at Shadow. Shadow, being who he was, returned the fierce glare, refusing to back down. Eggman cleared his throat and began to speak.

"I think we should put all our differences aside in favor of the well being of the populace. Gentlemen, I come here to ask a favor and to offer my assistance. These creatures are just as bad, if not worse than the Black Arms invasion several years ago. The creatures are nimble and are expert hunters. Some fly and some don't, but they never hunt lone. This, I believe, is the secret to their success, their superb ability to work together." Eggman said.

"I could have told you that Doctor. Tell us something new." Shadow said curtly. He turned away from the Commander, dismissing him as an unworthy opponent.

Eggman stroked his mustache.

"I believe we need to follow their example. I have seen them fight; as have you, I'm sure. Even if their partner falls, they find another and join them. Their tactics are flawless and innovative. They use everything to their advantage. We are not talking some mindless soldiers who need to be told everything, like the Black Arms; we are talking a race of fighters who are as creative as we are, if not more so." Eggman said matter-of-factly.

Knuckles, Shadow, and I nodded, always knowing what Eggman knew, considering we were always first on the scene. Which made me think of how well the three of us fought together no matter who we were fighting. We almost never had to converse and yet we were a thousand times better organized than G.U.N who had someone telling them what to do at all times.

"Bah! I will believe that when I see it. I don't believe in smart aliens, they're all stupid if you ask me. The fact that they attacked this planet makes them foolish." The Commander said vehemently.

"Yes, these creatures are stupid. The Black Arms actually were stupid and you couldn't drive them out of the city without Sonic, Knuckles, and me. The Black Arms, who were truly stupid, took out the CIA mainframe. These creatures, which are very intelligent, are killing your people faster than you can send them to be killed. Yes, they are the foolish ones indeed. I think you need to rethink your own overpowering stupidity before you force your prejudices on others." Shadow returned venomously. This was why we didn't get along with the Commander; he was such an idiot in denial.

"Keep your trap shut experiment! You will speak when spoken to!" The Commander shouted.

Karo and Shadow both hissed at the Commander and he took a step back from the rising viciousness. The two G.U.N. soldiers at his side cocked their weapons and leveled them at the two.

"Sad that you need others to guard your cowardice. As condescending of others as you are and as sure as you are of other's inferiority to you, someone would think that you could thoroughly defend yourself." Shadow spat in irritated disgust.

"I don't need to respond to an object." The Commander said simply. It was obvious Shadow was going to say more, but this would turn into an all out brawl in a minute.

"What do you want Eggman? You said that you wanted to work together. We already have a plan, but I've learned from Tails that hearing other's ideas can be helpful." I said carefully hiding the level of urgency in my voice.

Eggman smirked at the hidden compliment and the plea for help hidden in my words. He twisted his mustache in his fingers as he thought.

"We need to take out their leader first. Even though they are well organized and are perfectly capable of fighting on their own, they still require some sort of direction. After that, we need to come up with some sort of strategy to defeat their amazing cooperative skills. What do you all have in mind?"

"I think you three have done enough damage! G.U.N. will take care of this threat." The Commander said angrily.

"Oh, you mean like how you handled the Black Arms? Or perhaps you mean that sorry excuse for a defensive attack to drive the creatures away from the city? I would enjoy watching the largest one, that huge creature who burned away a plane with its spit, do the same thing a second time!" Eggman said vehemently.

I nearly burst out laughing at the look on the Commander's face. He had been completely knocked off his high horse, by Eggman of all people! Karo snickered only as lizards can, and Shadow looked quite smug. I busied myself with removing my splint to hide the open grin that was on my face. Knuckles began explaining our plan to Eggman who was just as unsure about it as the rest of us.

"I know you know more about the Chaos Emeralds than anyone else Knucklehead, but are you sure this will work? I haven't seen you go super, though I know you have."

"It has to work Eggman. It _needs_ to work, otherwise we're all doomed." Knuckles said his voice carrying the acute necessity and wish behind his words.

We talked over more plans, mostly leaving the Commander out, when Rouge and Mari, Tails' music tutor, came in with the other four chaos emeralds and the Master Emerald. I nearly puked when I felt the rush of power that was caused by having _all_ the emeralds in such close proximity. Tails seemed to panic a little until I waved him off, though it took me a minute to recover. A loud crash from down the hall, followed by gunfire and the screeching of the flying aliens. The bark-cry of their ground soldiers could be heard as well.

A flying creature slammed itself into the window, cracking the shatter resistant glass from one corner to the other across the diagonal. Shadow crouched but the two G.U.N soldiers fired of their guns shattering the glass and killing the creature, but also shortening our working time. The Commander smirked haughtily to Shadow, but the first and only thing we smart beings could think of was how dumb an idea that was.

"You _idiot_! You broke the glass! That was the only thing keeping them out! You can't think more than two seconds ahead, that's why you can't organize a proper counterstrike!" Shadow shouted furiously. He then snatched one of the soldier's weapon and a fresh magazine and leapt out the window shooting.

"Alright, since we seem to be on two different channels-" I glared fiercely at the Commander who jumped at the fury that was behind the look.

"-We need to work out how the G.U.N are gonna handle defending the hospital if it must come to that. We also can't afford to waste anytime converting the emeralds." I glanced at Knuckles who seemed taken aback at my sudden charge of leadership, but he nodded quickly and got to work gathering up the emeralds.

"Hah! And what do _you_ know about leading an army, eh boy? Have you ever organized anything more than your sock drawer?" the Commander said back on his high horse.

"Considering that I've killed more of these types of creatures with three people than you have with three hundred? And with almost no communication with those I'm fighting with? I'd say I do a better job at it than you ever have in your _lifetime_." I said, knocking his arrogance out the window, and wounding his ego at the fact I was right. Knuckles burst into laughter at the fact the Commander was bested by _me_ of all people. Eggman, Tails, and the girls had a little more tact and did no more than snicker or giggle. Even the guards had to hide their smirks at my sharp retort.

A loud sharp series of barks came from outside, followed by the sound of retreating squawks and bark-shrieks. The Commander and his lackeys rushed downstairs to meet whatever could cause such a retreat. The rest of us looked out the window to see Shadow and the general lizard dude. I recalled his name was Lirias, he was a bigger version of Karo and darker in color.

"What is wrong with you?! Why do you bring this creature in here?!" The Commander shouted at Shadow.

"Well, I can see that humans don't work very well with others." Lirias said, slightly annoyed.

"It talks?! That thing talks?!" The Commander shouted incredulously.

"It thinks?! That thing thinks?!" Lirias mocked. Everyone snickered at the witty creature.

"I am Lirias. I am a general in my people's army. Who do I have the acquaintance of fighting?" Lirias asked calmly.

"Look at that, he's diplomatic. I am the Commander of the Guardian Unit of Nations. What do you want on this planet?"

"Your lives of course, I thought that would be painfully obvious. Our leader, who goes by the name of Clarostra, needs to feed every fifty orbital rotations. In other words, fifty of my planet's years. A baby might say his name Clawrostira, but that is from a poor ability to translate our language into yours." Lirias said with a slightly haughty air.

I sped downstairs and appeared behind the Commander. Least to say I surprised all the humans that were there.

"What exactly does this Clarostra eat?" I shouted from behind the Commander. No one had even noticed me except maybe Lirias who answered me without skipping a beat.

"Stars, planets, whatever suits his fancy at the time." Lirias said, that same air of haughty nobility in his voice while he scratched his neck.

"What did you come in here to do, negotiate surrender?" The Commander asked.

"No."

"Well, what did you come here for?" The Commander asked, frustrated and now confused.

"That is between me and your rather short ambassador." Lirias said, glancing at Shadow. I snickered at Shadow's annoyed expression at the reference to his height, but he kept quiet.

"I should like to take him to the room where were before Commander. The top floor. He can leave through the broken window." Shadow stated simply.

The Commander glared at me.

"I don't think so. I refuse to let the enemy into my stronghold."

"Sorry to inform you good sir, but you already have." Lirias said calmly. "Shadow."

He looked to Lirias, and I already had an idea as to what he would ask.

"What?" he asked suspicious.

"Ever rode a dragon before?"

"Never had the pleasure." Shadow said now curious.

"Well, here's your chance." Lirias grabbed Shadow's quills and flung him onto his back. The soldiers around us scrambled away and Lirias ran out of the door with Shadow on his back. I made my way back upstairs, but the flying dragon got there the same time I did Everyone else panicked at the site of Lirias, but they quickly calmed when Shadow explained why he was there.

"Daddy?" Karo peeked from under one of the beds.

Shadow hopped off Lirias' back as he practically charged to get to Karo. Karo squeaked, peeped, and squawked to his father happily. Lirias turned to Shadow with a grave and thankful look. He nodded and explained who Lirias was to everyone else.

Amy and Shadow had a quiet exchange during the little reunion.

"Shadow, I must thank you. I was nervous that you would betray me. I must know, what can I do for you?" Lirias said as he nuzzled his son.

"You can stop killing people." Knuckles said.

"I'm afraid I can do nothing about that. Clarostra has his mind set on this planet, I'm afraid I cannot convince him to leave. All I can say is that I would become a traitor if I sanctioned his death." Lirias said.

"What would you do if we did kill him?" Shadow asked.

"Go back to my home and rule in his stead. He has no family and I am his highest-ranking and most favored soldier. Is there anything I can do now? Perhaps bring your…_diverse_ family back with us? Our planet is not unlike yours, albeit cleaner and with less of these buildings."

"I'd much rather stay here than going to a hostile alien planet." Rouge said.

"I cannot do very much or else I would be deemed a traitor and my son exiled. Clarostra will be gravely angry that I am associating with you now, though he will be easier upon hearing the reason. He does not believe in compassion towards any but his own race though. He will spare you-if I ask- but he will not spare the rest."

"Then we'll simply have to kill him." Shadow said, his ears twitching thoughtfully.

"Yes, but I must do all I can to thwart you." Lirias said sadly.

"Daddy, can Karo stay? Why daddy sad?" Karo said. Poor kid didn't understand a thing that was going on.

Lirias' expression became stoic and he croaked something to Karo that evidently soothed the baby creature. Lirias walked over to the window and he spread his wings wide. Before he took off he turned to face us.

"We shall meet again Shadow. Next time it will be on the battlefield. A star will die when we meet and the fate of a planet lies in the hands of the winner. What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you ready to give your life? We shall see how deep your mercy and your courage run star creature."

With that he leaped out the window, wings spread wide.


	5. The Battle for Station Square

MTF: Hey peoples! For those of you who read this story, I'm sorry! Due to the fact this story is based off 'Blood Fire' Angelic Puppy's Shadow the Hedgehog story, I had to wait for her chapters to come out first.

Sonic: You still could've worked faster, like I do!

MTF: Yes Sonic, because this story isn't long and slow. You run fast not work fast.

Sonic: -_-*

MTF: I do not own any hedgehogs, nor do I own any dragon-like aliens. I do own Sonic's side of the plot for the story.

"We shall meet again Shadow. Next time it will be on the battlefield. A star will die when we meet and the fate of a planet lies in the hands of the winner. What are you willing to sacrifice? Are you ready to give your life? We shall see how deep your mercy and your courage run star creature."

With those words, Lirias leapt out the window, wings spread wide.

I felt a sudden, massive wave of chaos energy, and the room spun wildly. Knuckles had tried using Lirias as a distraction to turn the Chaos Emeralds into the Super emeralds, but his timing was off. I sat down rather clumsily, Amy rushing to my side, and closed my eyes.

I tried to focus on absorbing the fresh, overbearing energy that pulsated throughout the room. Karo was asking Shadow a question so he didn't notice the burst of energy. My head started clearing as Knuckles stood up, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Anybody for some bowling?" Knuckles asked.

"Hmmph, are we gonna need bumpers?" Shadow asked watching the creatures outside retreat.

"I think that depends on the kind of bowling balls we're going to use." I said, going with the joke.

"You boys and your metaphors, why can't you three just talk like normal people?" Mari said.

Shadow's ears twitched in irritation, but he kept his comments to himself. Karo chirped, nudging the ebony hedgehog for his attention, which he received.

"Daddy say it Clarostra right?" Karo asked.

"Yes, he did. Why do you ask?" Shadow responded, his ears sweeping back in suspicion.

"I hear. He coming for you."

A loud ear-splitting roar rang out across the plain that was the city. It was such a sharp noise, we all groaned in pain due to our enhanced hearing.

My first thought was 'WTF', my second thought came after another peal of agony rang out in the hall. All these injured people were sitting ducks and that f****ing bastard of a giant gecko was coming straight for us. But I couldn't really believe it, how could that thing know we were here? A heavy vibration rang through the floor, and I saw the big hulking dragon coming for the hospital.

"That thing is coming _here_?!" I said franticly jumping up to stand by Shadow at the window.

For a brief minute Shadow and I watched the hulking figure as it lumbered towards the hospital.

"Well I hope you guys are ready for a fight because he is." Shadow said quietly.

I felt the others watching us, and turned to face them. Knuckles gathered the newly created Super emeralds together to the center of the floor.

"Who's ready to go Hyper?" he asked holding up one of them.

The power coursing from the emerald was practically visible to me, and to say the least it was distracting. I hadn't even really noticed that Shadow had grabbed one, until Amy touched my shoulder.

Shadow was examining the emerald closely, noticing how each glowed a darker color than in their normal states, and the level of power they were putting out. Amy shook me again, snapping me out of my stupor.

"They're different." Shadow said stupidly

"Hmmph, I'm no slowpoke. You are holding a Super Emerald. You and Sonic are so easily distracted I could've gone Hyper by now and you would just be noticing. I'm a guardian, a pro." Knuckles said smugly.

I grinned sheepishly since I had just proven his statement true. Amy sighed and pushed me closer to the emeralds. I looked over the stones, the energy pulsing through me in waves. I started to panic a little. How was I supposed to control this? Knuckles voice burst through my thoughts, his voice loud and urging.

"Sonic, why don't you try going Hyper? Now's a better time than ever, what with Godzilla coming for us." Knuckles said.

I nodded stiffly, still slightly panicked. How would Shadow react to the change? Would he even give up the emerald he had in his hand? I eyed my dark twin seriously and walked over to him, holding my hand out for the emerald.

A loud roar caused me to stop briefly, before reaching for the emerald. It pulsed between us, the power resonating between our two forms. To my relief he handed me the emerald, and I stepped away closing my eyes.

I took a deep breath; all these people were counting on this to work. I concentrated on the energy in the room, feeling the chaos energy course through my body. My muscles tensed, my skin tingled, and I could feel my spines turning upward.

The emeralds glowed and swirled around me like usual, each flash becoming brighter. My quills were twitching, not quite upturned and my skin felt like it was on fire. I started floating along with the emeralds, and I felt like I was being shocked.

I curled up some, trying to ease the electric sensation. The emeralds flashed almost blindingly now and I felt a surge of power building up. This was a normal reaction, but the power was so much heavier, thicker than if I was super. My fur was gold, but that wasn't right, it was supposed to match the emeralds. I took in more power, my body getting heavier with it. My quills still weren't quite upturned, but that would be fixed.

The emeralds flashed again releasing more energy, the light they emitted getting brighter and more blinding. I uncurled, practically forcing the extra energy back into the room, my quills shot perfectly upward, and my fur started changing colors rapidly to match the chaos emeralds. Knuckles shoved Shadow over towards me, looking serious.

"We've no time to waste. Start glowing, I'll join ya it seems like fun." Knuckles said sarcasm evident despite his serious expression.

Shadow nodded stiffly, and began powering up, the emeralds glowing in unison again. Shadow appeared a silvery-white, his stripes actually changing color instead of his whole self like I was. Knuckles quickly powered up, turning _orange_, of all colors, which changed the emeralds into their weakened gray colored states.

A back draft pounded the wall as Shadow shot out the busted window at top speed, Knuckles and I looked at each other and followed Shadow. The three of us flew past Clarostra, who roared and blundered after us. The giant lizard was very speedy, and Shadow watched as he followed us away from the hospital.

"Shadow, what are we gonna do about Godzilla back there?" I yelled over the roaring wind.

His ears twitched, not quite hearing what I said. I rolled my eyes and flew closer to him so that he could hear me.

"What was that Sonic?" Shadow asked me.

"I said we need a plan to kill that Godzilla monster!"

"I've got an idea! Let's knock the only remaining skyscraper on him." Knuckles said, pointing to a forty-story building.

The building was one of the few still standing among the wreckage of the city. How the hell had that thing survived? Shadow and I spun around to face the oncoming group of flying aliens, while Knuckles went around the back of the building, fending off some ground forces at the same time. I nearly got clipped by one of the fliers, whose partner was heading to jump Shadow from behind.

"Look Out!" I yelled, nailing another creature with my Axe Kick.

They were trying to overwhelm us with sheer numbers, and it was mostly working. Clarostra's powerful roar distracted all of us for a brief moment. The giant dragon was in the perfect place to be hit by a conveniently falling building, so I charged him, hit him in the face with my Homing Attack. I dodged Shadow's Chaos Lance, but got baseballed by Clarostra's wing into a group of his flying cronies.

A sharp metallic crunching and ripping sound rang through the air, and I looked down to see Knuckles getting the building to lift. I burst past a few of the lizards and charged their oversized boss.

I used Clarostra's head as a dance floor, fending off the smaller lizards and annoying the crap out of Clarostra. He swatted at me like a fly, knocking away some of his buddies in the process.

"Knuckles could ya hurry up? I'm getting bum-rushed over here!" I shouted from the other side of the building. I dodged a glob of Clarostra's acrid spit, which splashed a boulder, the surface sizzling.

"I'm getting spit at too!" I shouted desperately.

Knuckles grunted under the weight of the building before answering.

"You wanna come over and do this?!" he asked gruffly. "I'M TRYING TO LIFT A BUILDING!! Leave me alone!" he shouted annoyed.

A loud metal groan cleared the air, stopping everything as everyone watched the top twenty stories of the building careen towards the ground-right on top of Clarostra. This gave Knuckles enough give away to lift the rest of the building, so he practically threw it at the now enraged and injured Godzilla wannabe.

A huge cloud of dust kicked up, covering the whole area, and settling quickly. The lizards watched the rubble with the three of us, waiting for any kind of reaction from the rubble.

The giant tail (which I still remembered had serious power) reacted first, swinging into Knuckles like a crane, a loud bone crunching crack echoing as Knuckles went flying. He crashed into a two-story school, demolishing it in a cloud of dust.

I ran to help Knuckles as Clarostra was getting up, when I felt the powerful whip-like tail across my back. I yelped, the burst of pain nearly blinding me as I slammed face first into the dirt. It took me a minute to recover; the blow had been so unexpected that I'd quite literally been floored.

When I finally got myself together, I found Knuckles digging himself out of the only standing classroom. I helped him up, he was thoroughly dazed and his fur was the magenta color of his Super form.

As we walked back, we heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the sky, and Knuckles and I watched in horror as Shadow-covered in acid- was slammed into the ground by Clarostra's massive black tail.

"Shit, I hope he's alright," Knuckles said worriedly. I just nodded and pulled Knuckles along again.

Carrying Knuckles wasn't quite so difficult, but I was tired and hurting. I could feel a drag on my body, the energy of Hyper fading as we flew to meet Shadow. Clarostra was in a pain driven rage, and he was flailing all over the place.

We dodged his wild swings, until I heard a loud sharp whistling coming straight for us. I turned just as we were caught by a massive block of concrete, which dragged us towards the earth miles below.

Knuckles smashed the block in half, but a rain of concrete started just then. I knew if I didn't act quickly, we would both die buried under the rubble. Knuckles had Rouge and I had Amy, there was no way in hell I was going to just let us die.

I focused my energy and forced it out into a force field around the two of us, forming a rainbow colored bubble. Knuckles concentrated the last of his energy onto the bubble, allowing me full access to my own. We hit the ground, but I ignored it focusing on the rubble that still rained down on us, smashing the bubble horridly.

"Knuckles! Grab my quills and brace yourself!" I yelled behind me. I felt his rough fist wrap around my top quill, as the bubble blinked itself away.

I used Chaos Control just as a huge black foot came crashing into the rubble overtop of us.

--

The hospital was almost a hundred and fifty miles from where we had actually started fighting, and while it was easy to fly there when healthy, it is highly exhausting teleporting two living beings across that distance in a weakened state. I actually moved Knuckles into the room where the rest of our family waited anxiously, but I could not say the same for myself.

I appeared over the hospital's garden, now in ruin, using the last of my strength to put Knuckles in the room. I could feel my quills trying to stay upturned an effect that, combined with my fur flashing between blue and gold, signaled I'd exhausted all my power. I felt battered, bruised, and my fur was ragged and caked with dirt and dust.

I sighed and closed my eyes, hoping Shadow was okay. I heard several people calling my name, and I realized I wasn't floating anymore. I was sprawled across a bed of crushed flowers, their faint fragrance tickling my nose. I was so exhausted I hadn't even realized I fell.

Amy's gentle hands rubbed the back of my head, directly under my top quill, the way I liked. Her voice was muffled, but I could tell she was trying to talk to me. I tried sitting up, but I don't think I did more than twitch. I tried again, being a little more successful this time, and put my head in Amy's lap. Being closer made it easier to hear her, it sounded like she was talking to Knuckles or someone.

"Sonic, can you hear me?"

I twitched at the sound of my name, and turned my head to look up at my girl. I gave my best cheese, getting a chuckle out of her. The exact reaction I needed to feel better.

Suddenly, I felt a burst of powerful chaos energy, one that created a wave of rushing air. It filled me with energy, and I realized where it had come from. I jumped up, nearly falling over again, and ran to the end of the garden.

"S-Sonic! What's wrong?" I heard Amy yell.

I focused on the wind, sensing the energy of Shadow's Chaos Blast. The wind was getting stronger, and my skin tingled with the energy, which was quickly turning to a shock. That's when it hit me. The blast was coming towards the hospital!

"Amy, get inside now!" I said running back towards the tattered building.

I snatched her up before she could respond and took her inside, just as a gale busted the first floor windows. I created another bubble shield, the glass shards bouncing harmlessly off it. I raced upstairs, still holding onto Amy and entered the room where the others were.

"Stay here, I gotta go back outside" I said racing back out the door.

The gale was even stronger now, and I saw an insanely bright red flash as Shadow let loose his Chaos Blast. Knuckles grabbed my quills and shoved a Chaos emerald into my hands.

"That blast is spreading fast; if we don't hurry we'll all die!" Knuckles shouted over the wind.

I nodded and changed to my Super form. It was highly difficult despite the chaos energy blowing around us especially because the emeralds were already exhausted more than normal. As I powered up, the emeralds developed long jagged cracks across the tops and sides. Knuckles was also Super, which explained why the cracks in the emeralds were so large.

Knuckles climbed up the side of the hospital to the roof while I stayed in front of the building. The two of us created huge dome shields around the hospital, which also shielded the houses and small offices behind the hospital.

The dome of energy from the Chaos Blast crashed into our shield like a train. I could feel the energy draining out of me as I held the blast back; I knew Knuckles was probably having a harder time since he'd been hurt worse. The blast broke apart in a burst, dragging the shield down with it and knocking me out cold.


	6. Chapter 6

MTF: Hey there everybody! After AngelicPuppy made some executive changes to Blood Fire, the final chapter of the renamed Blood Autmn is here! The sequel is in the workings as well!

Sonic: You took so long! I can finally fill in some blanks huh?

MTF: Yes you can. I do not own Sonic and his friends, they are the property of Sega. I also do not own Karo, Mari or the Darraki, they belong to my sister AngelicPuppy.

I awoke to the cries of injured people and beeping moniters, which meant we had saved the hospital. I breathed a sigh of relief, the fight was over.

"Hey there handsome, I see you're awake." I heard Amy say. I felt the hospital mattress dip towards her as she and Cream sat on the bed.

"Oh man, how lucky am I? Two loveley ladies coming to pay old me a visit? I must be dreaming" I said grinning. Cream giggled and hugged me careful of my bandages. Amy smiled and gently gripped my hand.

She looked tired, weary really. I couldn't imagine how she was feeling, dealing with all the fighting, the injuries the destruction. Hell, how could any of the others handle it? Rouge had Knuckles who often got banged up for being the major muscle, and Shadow worried the crap out of Cream and Tails since he tended to nearly die. I was in between since I didn't nearly die so often as Shadow and I didn't get hurt by default like Knuckles.

I pulled Amy down next to me and cradled Cream on my other side. I kissed them both on their heads, well aware of Amy quietly sobbing into my pillow. Shit, how could this get any worse? Karo bounded into the room with Tails close behind him. Karo bounced happily, chirping his approval.

"Sonic, you wake! Tay said you not wake but you are!" I shook my head.

"Yea Karo, I'm awake. How's Knuckles?"

"Knuckles is doing better than you and Shadow" Amy muffled. She wasn't crying anymore thankfully.

"Yea, he was up and walking around two hours ago. He's stiill tired, but Rouge said they were gonna play a game so he'd feel better. I think he threw up earlier too." Tails said. I fought not to smile. If I did, Tails would want to know _what_ game they were playing, and then so would Cream and Karo. That was a conversation I was so not gonna have.

"Well, that's okay. But we won't bother them for a bit alright?" I said holding up Cream so she could look at me too. All three children nodded at me though slightly confused. Lirias, Karo's dad and general in the alien-dragon army walked in.

"You seem to have a certain way with children blue star creature. The red one does as well, although I'm not sure if his 'game' is appropriate in this setting."

I cheesed, not really surprised that he knew what Knuckles and Rouge were doing. Honestly, it was probably more for Rouge's benefit than anything. Girls were so emotional and sex made them feel better sometimes. I didn't really understand it, but then, I'm not a girl.

"Well, probably not, but I think they need it. Rouge probably wanted to give him something to do, help him sleep and all." Lirias seemed to think about that and nodded.

"How are you star creature? I would expect that if some other being had tried to expend so much energy they would be comatose. Yet here you are, barely a week later, conscious, talking, and handling children. I have not heard a single complaint either. From what I've observed, you awaken and immediately comfort those around you, asking for the status of your comrades." He said scratching his neck. I shrugged.

"Sonic doesn't really mind himself if he's hurt or anything. The only reason he hasn't asked about Shadow yet is because he figures Tails would have told him if he was up by now." Amy said from her pillow. I flinched at her tone.

"It sounds like that is a somewhat frustrating trait for you to deal with pink one." Lirias said matter-of-factly. Tails, Karo and Cream looked between Lirias and me, and left the room probably to check on Shadow. I heard Cream's mother Vanilla call her from the hall.

Amy sat up, her eyes red and puffy, and turned a serious look to Lirias. She gripped my hand hard, tension and strain thrumming along her arm. She sat straight like a princess, like she was addressing some nobleman.

"There is nothing wrong with Sonic being selfless, being willing to help others. He's kind-hearted and sweet, and sure, he can be a joking hard ass. I fell in love with him for that. My problem is the fact that he always jumps straight in, and then he gets hurt, and thinks nothing of it. I just wish…" she shook her head and took a deep breath.

"You just wish the humans could defend themselves for once?" I said looking into her tired face. She dropped her gaze to our joined hands and nodded. I sighed and held her, telling her how sorry I was. Everybody needed some serious recovery time after this mess was cleaned up.

"Sonic, correct? I do not know how to console you or your mate, however, that braindead Commander request an audience as soon as you are able." Lirias said. I got up then, Amy following me as I walked to the window.

The destruction floored me; it was so profound and unnatural. Looking out the window I could see nothing, not a skyscraper or a theater. There were a few houses like abandoned toys, gutted and broken. Debris was everywhere. I spotted soldiers and crews cleaning up –aliens and human alike- picking up the broken shell of a city.

Station Square was the worst. The building Knuckles had thrown had left a huge pile of concrete, steel and glass in the center. Then there was something just off center of the street. It was a massive pile of some black and greasy substance. I smelled it on the wind before I recognised what is was. And when I recognized it, my stomach turned so hard that I stumbled and ended up puking in a graciously close bucket.

"Oh my gosh! Sonic, baby, are you all right?" Amy asked rushing over me. I pointed towards the window that was blowing the putrid smell of the heap into the room. She rushed to the open window and shut it while I emptied my stomach again.

"Ah, yes I'm sorry about not preparing you for that. We will be taking the remains with us when we return to our home." Lirias said walking over to us. I swallowed hard.

"The remains?" I asked coughing. Amy handed me a glass of water which I slurped down.

"Yes, your dark furred friend did quite a number on Clarostra, and reduced him to that rather unendearing pile of grease and ash."

"Um, wow, okay. My condolences?" I said after another glass of water. Lirias laughed sarcastically, a scathing, mocking expression to his face.

"Not hardly, but thank you for your courtesy. You are more noble than the humans, although I do not blame them seeing as we have destroyed them."

"Saddo! You wake! Daddy, Tay, Sonic, he wake!" Karo yelled from the hall. I sighed, following the sound of the little dragon's voice. Amy said she would go check on Rouge and Knuckles. I nodded and was met by Shadow's glare. I cheesed, simply because I knew he was only glaring because he was freaked. The guy is funny that way. I noticed Mari, Tails' tutor standing in the corner looking rather sorry. Huh, wonder what happened there.

"What a surprise to see you general." Shadow said to Lirias. "I had expected to find you and your son gone to your own planet."

"Always a warm welcome from you star-creature. I would have left, except for two things, three really." Lirias said. He was pretty chilled out for a guy who's leader was just unceremoniously destroyed. I shook my head at my own thoughts, using long words was a trait I started picking up from Tails.

"So what are these three things?" Shadow asked curiously.

"My son is a pain in my ass, my wing is broken thanks to you, and my leader is dead. That's another of your doings." Lirias said tilting his head towards the window.

Shadow and I both snickered. Yea Karo was a little bit of a pain, but he was a kid, that was their job.

"Wait, he's dead?" Shadow asked, the last part of Lirias' statement clicking into place.

"Burned to a greasy heap of ash. My soldiers have spent the last week cleaning up. Another week and we shall be away forever if you so wish. We will take all of his remains with us; you have no need to worry about that." Lirias said calmly.

"What about me daddy? I wanna stay here!" Karo whined.

"If they'll allow you, for a few months. If they'll have you, a few years, though I'll be coming to check on you. Your mother will burn me crispier than that greedy garasque if I don't." Lirias said, slight annoyance in his tone.

"What is a garasque?" Tails asked. He was so quiet I think we all had forgotten he was there.

"A disgusting creature on my planet that eats its weight in trash. It has fewer manners than those things you call pigs and will eat itself to death if given the chance."

"What does it look like?" I asked.

"I'm not sure how to describe it. It has a long nose, its tail is long and furless, fangs and sharp teeth, four legs, most are a black or brown furred." Lirias said thoughtfully, scratching at his neck. He seemed to do that whenever he was unsure. His description reminded me of a sewer rat though.

A rather loud grumbling alerted us to the fact Shadow was hungry. Stifled laughter preceded Tails and Karo's exit. Lirias and Mari followed them out, probably to see that they ate too. I walked over to the window looking out at the decimation again. Geez, this whole thing had only been a day long, and according to Lirias the cleaning had been going for a week. Everything was still so messed up.

I heard Shadow grunt as he moved on the bed, probably looking out the window too. Except that he saw what was left of Clarostra and I barely made it with a bucket. I grimaced sorry that I hadn't thought of blocking the window or something.

"Funny, me and Knuckles had a similar reaction. He's still in bed too, though with what Rouge has been doing I'm not surprised." Then I remembered something from ealier. "How's that Mari been huh? Tails was telling me she's been annoying you. I don't really know her too well; she's more Rouge and Amy's friend."

"You're telling me this why? I hate that girl." He said coughing a little.

"Yeah, that's what you said about Amy."

"You're a turd." I cheesed, what a set up.

"Am I an easy turd, a constipated turd, or a diarrhea turd?"

"You are the most disgusting being on the planet!" Shadow said through laughter. I laughed too, like I said, what a set up.

"Nice to see you're feeling better." Amy said from the doorway. She had a tray of food in hand, Mari behind her with a tray of drinks. She still looked sorry. I pulled up two chairs, slouching in one. I sighed a little dramatically, watching Amy walk over with the tray and a table trolley. Mari sat down on Shadow's bed.

"Hey doll, how's the grub?" I asked as Amy tried handing me a sandwich. She smiled and shook her head.

"It's awful. You know somebody actually _made_ the pudding? Like, the old way. And they had real cheesecake. It's a terrible sign you know." I laughed, taking her hands like she'd done earlier. There wasn't so much tension anymore.

"Oh goodness, you didn't actually get me a slice did you? Don't you know how real food makes me fat?" She laughed, and the tension left her completely.

"Oh Sonic you're just terrible, you can't get fat."

"I know babe, and I could get fat! The way you feed me with all that real, delicious homemade food, I'm surprised I'm not 200 pounds already."

"Ever heard that staring is rude?" Mari said loudly. Amy and I blinked, turning to look at Mari. Shadow must have been watching us again.

"Mari, he _always_ watches us. Well, except for the important stuff." Amy said, giggling with her last comment. I snorted and Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because at _that_ point I'll need a video camera." he said vehemently.

"Why can't you two just get along?" I asked. They were acting so weird. Mari was acting all _tsundere_, and Shadow was just being the usual.

"Don't ask me, ask _her_. I have never been rude unless she was rude first." Shadow retorted.

Mari huffed and turned away. Amy and I sighed in unison, before I pulled her to her feet and shot a wry smile to Shadow. They'd figure it out at some point. I pulled Amy out of the room, noting that Knuckles' door was open. Cream's voice was happy as she asked Knuckles if he was feeling better. The room was full with Tails, Cream and Karo near the bed and Rouge in the corner talking to Lirias.

"Man, are you today's designated babysitter or something?" Lirias gave me a curious look.

"Are you speaking about my vigilance to the children?"

"Don't mind him Lirias, randomness is his default mode" Rouge said with a smile. Lirias scratched at his neck again not quite sure how to respond. Shadow's laughter from down the hall prompted Tails and Karo (partners in crime it was starting to look like) to investigate. I shook my head seeing them getting into trouble already. Lirias stood to follow them, nodding respectfully to Rouge and then Knuckles.

"So, have you looked outside at all?" Knuckles asked. I shuddered, seeing the remains of Godzilla-face in my head. That's the kind of thing you need brain bleach for.

"I'll take that as a yes. Girls, you mind getting us some food? Especially for the kids." Rouge and Amy exchanged a look, before moving towards the door. Rouge picked up Cream, kissing Knuckles on his cheek.

"Hey Amy, can I get some sugar? I think I might need some of that pudding later too" I asked as she was leaving. She blushed and kissed me, and Rouge rolled her eyes. Knuckles gave a snickering sort of laugh.

"Alright, so what's up Knux?" I asked sitting in the chair by the bed.

"How many times would you say we've had some serious destruction to the city?"

"Uh, off the top of my head? A lot. Depends on who's defining it really."

Knuckles shook his head. "I mean by our definition, the ones who actually fight. I'm including Eggman too, as it has happened on occasion."

I sighed, that was a hard one. Technically, we'd been invaded about three times now. As for Eggman, well, the day before the invasion counted, and several, several times before that.

"I don't really know anymore Knuckles. We've been fighting for a while now, I'm kinda desensitized to it all."

"I know, I think to an extent we all are. Not just us either, I think the populace is getting tired of it too. If it isn't one thing, it's something else. I'm not even sure Eggman will be up to anything after this." Knuckles answered.

He was right, we'd been on Earth for years, and it was lots of fighting in the beginning. Then Eggman started to pace himself. It was almost routine. We discovered Chaos, and all the madness that came from his Perfect form. Then there was Shadow, and the Ark appearing, fighting the Biolizard and unearthing some seriously deep secrets.

Then the Black Arms had invaded and that was hell. They had destroyed more than we had in all our fights with Eggman combined, hacked and destroyed the GUN mainframe, and massacred millions of people. Not even Eggman had gone so far as to kill people.

"Sonic? You cool?" Knuckles asked, reminding me that he was there.

"Yeah man, I was thinking about all the fighting we've been doing over the years."

"It's a lot isn't it? If you think about it, between the three of us, we've got quite a bit of experience. Shadow and you have had quite a few close calls too. It's changed all of us, the humans included."

I sighed, he was right. "Yea well, it feels like it's just constantly something. Just when everything gets pulled back together, and people start to get normal, something else bites us in the ass." He nodded and called for some water.

"This may be too much for everyone this time. There might never be normal again. Everything has to be rebuilt from the floor." Knuckles said. Tails and Karo came in then, a glass of water carefully balanced on Karo's head.

"Sonic look, Karo can keep it on his head without spilling it!" Tails said pointing at his new friend. I smiled, telling him that was cool. I could feel tiredness setting in and something told me I'd have to go back and talk to Shadow again. Knuckles had me hand him an old backpack that was full of silly magic stuff. I watched him show Tails and Karo a bunch of card tricks before heading back to where Shadow was. I didn't expect to hear Lirias there.

"I do believe it speaks for itself. That is a dangerous dream Shadow, I suggest you be careful. It seems Death has come to be fond of you, you have nearly died too many times, be cautious lest she have you."

"That doesn't sound good. Are you ok Shadow?" I asked standing in the doorway.

"I'm fine, Lirias and I were just talking, but he should probably be going to talk to you and Amy about Karo."

"Karonisi."

Shadow and I both looked at Lirias, slightly confused.

"His name is Karonisi. He gets his full name when he first hunts on his own." Lirias stated proudly. Shadow and I exchanged a look, and I just shrugged. I guess Shadow would've counted as his first hunt.

"Well Sonic, shall we go then?" Lirias asked turning to me. "If my son is to spend time here there are things we must discuss."

"Alright, you catch some z's Shads" I said with a slight wave. "Lirias you'll want to talk to Amy and Rouge, I'm not much for taking care of pipsqueaks."

As we left and walked back to my room he asked what a pipsqueak was. I laughed at this alien who had turned my world upside down and asked questions about something so stupid. Knuckles was right, this thing had seriously changed us, and we might never be normal again.


End file.
